So he watched her leave and come home and leave more often and he didn’t know what to do to make her want him like she used to, so he’d gone out on his own and done a little exploring up north. It had been interesting, but it would have been better with Charlie. He kept turning to talk to her about things and she wasn’t there. Since sometimes he turned to talk to her in midair, her absence seemed like it should’ve been obvious, but it took him by surprise every time.

His one trip back to see the family in Ontario had been entirely too full of Auntie Jane.

Mostly, though, he stayed close to home because that’s what Gales did and he was trying to be a Gale first. And because as often as she left, Charlie always came home.

As an adult, he’d been expected to take part in ritual. He hadn’t, too afraid he’d be unable to control the change to be able to perform the duties required. At least that was the way Allie’d explained it to the aunties. Their original conversation had been more along the lines of: “You try and get it up when all you can think about is barbequing a cousin.”

“You’ve got more control than . . .”

“And thinking of how good she’d taste!”

“Okay, then.”

He couldn’t tell if the cousins he would have joined in ritual had been relieved or disappointed. Cameron did his best, but he was still the only third circle Gale boy the aunties had allowed to go west and it would be another year before the first of the boys who’d moved west as children grew up. Cameron’s entire list of potential breeding partners had moved west with him and, in ritual, he was responsible for the rest of the third circle as well. He’d been talking about choosing his way into second circle just to get some rest.

“Step up, Jack, I could use a little help.”

When Jack had explained the problem, Cameron had hissed as he settled flesh rubbed raw into an ice-water bath, antlers still evident, and muttered, “So eat a couple. It’s not like there aren’t plenty of them.”

Jack didn’t know if the aunties had a list for him. He hadn’t asked and no one had offered to tell him. And there was always the species problem. Would the result be a baby or an egg?

Charlie stayed out of ritual, too, joining him as a fourth circle of protection around the rest of the family. Maybe if Charlie took part . . .